Machine for recovering tobacco from defective cigarettes



Feb. 8, 1955 gELLMANN 2,701,569

MACHINE FOR RECOVERING TOBACCO FROM DEFECTIVE CIGARETTES Filed March 1,1950 INVENTOR Rude/f Fe//marm TTO R United States Patent 6 MACHINE FORRECOVERING TOBACCO FROM DEFECTIVE CIGARETTES Rudolf Fellmann, Prague,Czechoslovakia, assignor of one-half to Skoda-Works, NationalCorporation, Plzeu, Czechoslovakia Application March 1, 1950, Serial No.146,981

Claims priority, application Czechoslovakia March 11, 1949 3 Claims.(Cl. 131-96) My invention relates to machines for recovering tobaccofrom defective cigarettes. In hitherto known machines of that type thepaper wrapper of each cigarette is longitudinally cut and the thusopened cigarettes are assembled in a container or the like where thetobacco is separated from the paper wrapper for subsequent reuse in themanufacture of new cigarettes. These known machines were not veryeflicient particularly with regard to the required separation of thetobacco from the paper wrapper which separation has been performedindependently from the cutting operation in a separate device.

The principal object of my invention is to avoid the said disadvantages.According to my invention the tobacco is separated, namely brushed offfrom the paper wrapper immediately following the cutting operation andthe wrapper and the tobacco are collected in separate containers.

The said and other objects of my invention will be more fully understoodfrom the following specification when read with the accompanying drawingin which one embodiment is illustrated.

In the drawing Fig. l is a schematic sectional view of my new machine,

Fig. 2 is a partial cross sectional view taken along the broken linex2x2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a partial cross sectional view taken along the broken line xsxof Fig. 1, and

Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate in an enlarged scale the remover of the paperwrapper in front and side view, respectively.

My new machine for recovering tobacco from defective cigarettescomprises a feed drum 1 which is provided upon its circumference with atleast one row of fine teeth 2 and which is keyed to the shaft 3 torotate therewith. Said shaft 3 rests in a bearing 4 mounted in asupporting frame 5. An auxiliary feed or press roller 7 whichcircumferentially contacts said feed drum 1 is rotatably mounted upon apin 8 in the forked end of an arm 9 which is swingable about the pin 10resting in the frame 5. The roller 7 is held in circumferentialfrictional contact with the feed drum 1 by the spring 6 one end of whichis secured to a projection of said swing arm 9 and the other end thereofto a projection of the frame 5. The said press roller 7 is provided witha circumferential groove or channel adapted to frictionally engage thecigarettes which longitudinally approach towards the feed drum 1 throughthe feeding channel 24. The incoming cigarettes are seized by the teeth2 of the feed drum 1 and are carried below an accommodating followerplate 12 which holds the incoming cigarettes upon the toothedcircumference of the feed drum 1 so that the wrapper and the tobaccofiller are under increased tension. The said follower plate 12 ismounted upon the forked end of the swing arm 9 by means of an anglebracket 11 and is pressed against the cigarettes carried by the feeddrum 1 by the action of the spring 6 acting upon the supporting swingarm 9. The follower plate 12 is so located rela tive to the press roller7 that it engages the front end of the passing cigarette before the rearend of the cigarette avoids the press roller 7. The rotating drum 1transports the cigarettes leaving the channel provided between the feeddrum 1 and its follower plate 12 under a rotary cutter or other slittingdevice 13 mounted upon the shaft 14, the cutting or slitting edgesthereof projecting slightly into the channel through which thecigarettes run ice so as to cut the paper wrapper lengthwise withoutinjuring the tobacco and without shredding the paper. The said anglebracket 11 is provided with a slit or opening 11 to permit the cutter13to rotate unobstructedly. The paper wrapper after being longitudinallyslit by the cutter 13 is opened by the elastically expanding tobaccofiller and the thus opened cigarettes are carried by the feed drum 1 toand under a rotary brush 16 which sweeps the tobacco from the paperwrapper into a' container 25. The paper wrapper thus freed from tobaccobut still held by the teeth 2 of the feed drum 1 is carried towards aseparator or remover 26 which lifts the wrapper p from the drum 1 asillustrated in Fig. 5 and permits the wrapper to fall into a collectingchannel 27.

The device described above is actuated by a motor driven pulley or thelike 17 which drives an endless belt 18 engaging the pulley 19 drivingthe rotary brush 16, the pulley 20 driving the rotary slitting device 13and the pulley 21 driving the feed drum 1 by means of the gearing 22, 23(shown diagrammatically by the dot-and-dash circular lines).

Although one embodiment of my invention has been shown and described byway of illustration, it will be well understood that my invention may beconstructed in various other embodiments which will come within thescope of the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a machine for recovering tobacco from defective cigarettes, theimprovement comprising in combination a rotatably mounted feed drum forthe cigarettes, means to feed cigarettes longitudinally to thecircumference of said drum, the circumference of said drum having atleast one row of teeth for engaging and holding the cigarettes, a rollerarranged in front of the outlet end of said feed means to cooperate withsaid drum and to press the incoming cigarettes upon said teeth, rotaryslitting means behind said roller in the direction of rotation of saiddrum adapted to slit the cigarettes lengthwise, a rotary brush behindsaid slitting means for removing tobacco from the paper of the slitcigarettes, a container to receive the removed tobacco, and means toremove the cigarette paper from the feed drum.

2. In a machine for recovering tobacco from defective cigarettes, theimprovement comprising in combination a rotatably mounted feed drum forthe cigarettes, means to feed cigarettes longitudinally to thecircumference of said drum, the circumference of said drum having atleast one row of teeth for engaging and holding the cigarettes, a pressroller circumferentially cooperating with said feed drum, a swingablearm rotatably supporting said press roller, means for holding said pressroller in frictional engagement with the circumference of said feeddrum, said roller having a V-shaped circumferential groove to receivethe incoming cigarettes and pressing the same upon said teeth, rotaryslitting means behind said roller in the direction of rotation of saiddrum adapted to slit the cigarettes lengthwise, a rotary brush behindsaid slitting means for removing tobacco from the paper of the slitcigarettes, a container to receive the removed tobacco, and means toremove the cigarette paper from the feed drum.

3. A machine for recovering tobacco from defective cigarettes accordingto claim 2 comprising a feed drum follower plate attached to saidswingable arm to guide the cigarettes leaving said press roller.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS887,724 Hutchinson et al May 12, 1908 1,034,144 Rene July 30, 19121,491,438 Theobald Apr. 22, 1924 1,758,800 Molins May 13, 1930 2,002,142Gibson et al. May 21, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS 472,976 France Oct. 28, 1914

